It is clear that DJs use headphones to listen to the music and know when to start the next song. But besides that, they can be used for a really cool trick: using headphones as a mic.
You might have the situation where you want to speak to your audience but you don’t have a microphone close by, here is how it works.
How is it possible to use headphones as a mic?
It is certainly confusing, but it has a very simple explanation. Headphones are just like a microphone: instead of going into the mixer they come out of the mixer. But this will only work with a dynamic microphone, which are mechanically very similar to headphone speakers since they work under the same electroacoustic principles but in the opposite direction.
It’s like a large microphone but they still work just like one. All you have to do is take your headphones and plug it straight into the microphone input. Just be very careful and check the impedance (should be the same as the mic), or you could damage the headphones.
- Make sure your levels are nice and low when you start off, because this can sound a little bit crazy. Now try speaking into the microphone. The microphone it’s gonna be on one side or the other of the headphones.
- Bring your lows down and your highs up to reduce the boominess of your voice.
- Also, be careful of feedback. Keep the headphones away from the monitors and make sure your booth is all the way off.
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That’s it. A dead simple check if you need to get a microphone in a pinch just unplug your headphones and plug them into the microphone.